He might actually be the best suited for that. After all the insane are the ones that can swap reality on a whim. =^_^=
Carmine
5 years ago
I was a little concerned even back in the Winter-een-mas 2017 arc when he was so blase about cutting his own throat. (Page 9) I had assumed previously that there was some power-effect integral to his ability that dulled that trauma for him, after all the modern “Video Game Perspective” intentionally strips the poignancy out of death and injury. At most 2 quarters 😛
I imagine that much humans with other kinds of stimuli, he probably became desensitized to it eventually. Certainly the first experience may have been traumatic, but then after it happens a few times it’s like “Oh, I died again. Back to whatever I was just doing.”
Sigurther, that might be the case if, as Carmine said, the trauma was actually dulled. But if he feels the full pain and other horrifying effects when he dies, well… I’m not sure that’s something one can become desensitized to. Or at the very least, the mind would snap long before desensitization could set in.
Kinda like that short-lived TV show “Forever.” The main character was like Ethan, he couldn’t die. Whenever he “died”, he would be transported to the nearest body of water, but he would feel the pain of dying in every case before coming back. So the possibility of Ethan feeling the trauma of dying each time could happen, but who knows? Another odd cross-over thought… What would happen if Ethan was part of the “snap”? Would he constantly just turn to dust, because the gauntlet willed him to die, but his power kept bringing him back? Who would win? Thanos or… Read more »
Thanos. The “snap” didn’t kill people. It removed them from existence. So, it gaming terms, Ethan has unlimited lives, but Thanos hacked the game and deleted the character
Removal from existence doesn’t necessarily mean removal from history. We don’t know enough about Ethan’s powers to be able to say what it would take to kill him properly. It’s possible that the respawn has an instantaneous subconscious trigger, so if his death took him totally by surprise, *maybe* that would be permanent. We don’t have enough information to be able to make these kind of comparisons.
Eldest Gruff
5 years ago
Dude, put that down. You don’t know where it’s been. For all you know, it sat in a pile of dirty laundry for years until someone sold their game.
idk about you but i dont lick my games before i buy them. produce, now that is a different story, got to get the wax off of the apples before i decide
Scortch
5 years ago
Here the question though. Most of the trama of a near death experience comes from the actual possibility of death itself. Ethan doesn’t actually die or rather stay dead, so would there even be the trama from that? Granted there are some ways of dying that might mess you up, drowning, burning etc. But the actual death wouldn’t mean much to him.
True, to a degree. But consider that so much of our existence and identity as humans is wrapped up in our mortality. We don’t walk around thinking about our eventual death every second of the day, but we know it. Deep down we know we’re temporary. Messing with that would, I think, threaten the tether we have on what life and death even means in a way. That’s the deepest question here. More to the surface is the fact that having your head cut off, suffocating to death, burning alive; these are not experiences that an human has and then… Read more »
Actually, even this could be incorrect. They have admitted before to having no clue how EXACTLY his power works. Is he immortal? Will he live forever no matter what, or just until he dies of old age? Will he “age” at all? Is he infinite, or more “cat-like”, with a set number of respawns? In a way, thoughts like that could have him EVEN MORE fucked up than a normal person. We all fear dying to some degree. But Ethan has to live with “knowing” that he’ll just come right back…. until he doesn’t. Every time he plays hero he’s… Read more »
Vandril
5 years ago
Thinking long-term here. What would happen to Ethan if he reached the age to die of old age? His “respawn point” never seems to be far along his biology chronology from his point of death. Might he end up in an infinite loop of dying of old age? I mean, wow. To constantly, and i mean CONSTANTLY, be DYING without the relief of death. I can’t imagine a worse fate.
As far as I can see, there’s two possibilities other than that one;
1: The power stops his aging,
2: Dying of old age is the only way for him to stay dead
There’s a third option: Each time he dies of old age, he respawns to the age he was right before the cancer / dementia / disease / whatever took hold. Meaning that he’ll age to about eighty or ninety, and spend the rest of eternity getting sick and frail and dying over and over.
There’s actually a 4th option that’s tied in with the dying of old age thing. It’s the old “life is a game” theme whereby he “completes” the game when he finally dies of old age or some other predetermined condition (number of lives, certain boss defeated, etc.). I mean, this IS a comic about gaming and the culture surrounding it. Doesn’t really get more meta than that.
I think Ethan’s powers only work for unnatural causes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could die from his body getting old and failing. Diseases, viruses, etc. might also be able to kill him on a permanent basis as well.
Either way, that’s more on Tim to clarify if he wants to.
I think it was mentioned that he respawns at his last perfectly healthy state. To me, it would mean that if he gets a disease, then dies from it, he would respawn at this state prior to contracting the disease.
Tommy
5 years ago
Reminds me of Capitol by Orson Scott Card. Most of the stories ended up in The Worthington Saga, but there was one at the beginning where the main character was killed repeatedly in increasingly horrible ways. First time the written word has ever made me legitimately nauseated.
todofwar
5 years ago
I still have so many questions about his power though, which I guess are going to be answered at some oint. Is he going by, like, Skyrim rules where you just infinitely respawn or old school nintendo rules with a set number of lives? Is there some version of adding in more quarters for him like an arcade game? Can he die of old age or cancer? Is he eternally young or is he going to get so old he needs to be turned into a grasshopper? Would game over just take him back to being a baby? Am I… Read more »
Those are mostly questions that Ethan has not discovered answers to yet.
CAD Rocks
5 years ago
If he were the least bit psychic, and could have his opponent experience a few of his more… Choice… deaths, I’m pretty sure he could reduce even A-list villains to quivering piles of PTSD.
Kurai
5 years ago
I think the more important question is how did he discover he had the ability to “not stay dead”? Most people live their entire life trying to avoid death. Was his first death a result of an accident? or after his sister died, did he attempt and succeed in committing suicide? Only to find that he was in his own personal hell, that he could never stay dead, that if an afterlife did exist, he would never be able to see the pearly gates of heaven, and he would never get to see his sister in any afterlife, as a… Read more »
Alternatively, Ethan’s power to return from the dead goes all the way back to the origin of the comic as a whole… #fantheories https://cad-comic.com/comic/bad-call/
Tim already showed the origin way back ago… Lucas did his arrow thing and decapitated Ethan, who then respawned. I don’t remember the date it occurred, but it was a few issues back.
Heldarion
5 years ago
Is there any reason this site routinely logs me out after a week or so? It doesn’t happen on any other site. Something related to adblocker or browser maybe?
Karrde
5 years ago
Perhaps. Its something interesting to explore as a writing concept, however the depths that could theoretically take a story I doubt can be really explored to the darkest corners in a lighthearted comic like this. I am interested to see where it goes.
Diego Correa Faria Alvarenga
5 years ago
When Ultimate Wolverine was captured by weapon X, the soldiers would start torturing him for fun. He healed and would have his memory wiped. But the pain…
KBABZ
5 years ago
Ooo, new comments system! Cool!
CloudHiro
5 years ago
One thing though. does he still age? cause if he does, by a overthinker’s logic, that may put him in a bit of a neverending death loop when he dies of old age, just bring him back to that point again and again repetively passing away. for all eternity. probably wont work like that but someone with this power set would probably worry about that!
Ven
5 years ago
Planetside 2 has something like this. “Revival sickness”. The constant repeat of death and rebirth has turned the entire population of the planet of Auraxis, locked in an eternal war, into straight-jacket flailing danger to themselves and others imaginary friend named Hortense batshit fucking lunatics.
In this context, I fear for Ethan’s mind more than ever before…
24
so if he starts acting like a normal person, you gotta intervene
Reminds me actually of the “original” story line where he once was normal and everyone else was behaving like he normally does.
Or Albedo from Xenosaga.
He might actually be the best suited for that. After all the insane are the ones that can swap reality on a whim. =^_^=
I was a little concerned even back in the Winter-een-mas 2017 arc when he was so blase about cutting his own throat. (Page 9) I had assumed previously that there was some power-effect integral to his ability that dulled that trauma for him, after all the modern “Video Game Perspective” intentionally strips the poignancy out of death and injury. At most 2 quarters 😛
I imagine that much humans with other kinds of stimuli, he probably became desensitized to it eventually. Certainly the first experience may have been traumatic, but then after it happens a few times it’s like “Oh, I died again. Back to whatever I was just doing.”
Sigurther, that might be the case if, as Carmine said, the trauma was actually dulled. But if he feels the full pain and other horrifying effects when he dies, well… I’m not sure that’s something one can become desensitized to. Or at the very least, the mind would snap long before desensitization could set in.
Kinda like that short-lived TV show “Forever.” The main character was like Ethan, he couldn’t die. Whenever he “died”, he would be transported to the nearest body of water, but he would feel the pain of dying in every case before coming back. So the possibility of Ethan feeling the trauma of dying each time could happen, but who knows? Another odd cross-over thought… What would happen if Ethan was part of the “snap”? Would he constantly just turn to dust, because the gauntlet willed him to die, but his power kept bringing him back? Who would win? Thanos or… Read more »
Thanos. The “snap” didn’t kill people. It removed them from existence. So, it gaming terms, Ethan has unlimited lives, but Thanos hacked the game and deleted the character
I doubt that explanation because the people who were deleted were remembered by those that weren’t. Removal from existence would be more thorough.
Removal from existence doesn’t necessarily mean removal from history. We don’t know enough about Ethan’s powers to be able to say what it would take to kill him properly. It’s possible that the respawn has an instantaneous subconscious trigger, so if his death took him totally by surprise, *maybe* that would be permanent. We don’t have enough information to be able to make these kind of comparisons.
Dude, put that down. You don’t know where it’s been. For all you know, it sat in a pile of dirty laundry for years until someone sold their game.
Where do you think the flavor comes from?
ug I just tried to analize his discription in the context of the flavor comeing from time spent in a laundry hamper.
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Not sure if licking video games your customer gonna touch is normal.
idk about you but i dont lick my games before i buy them. produce, now that is a different story, got to get the wax off of the apples before i decide
Here the question though. Most of the trama of a near death experience comes from the actual possibility of death itself. Ethan doesn’t actually die or rather stay dead, so would there even be the trama from that? Granted there are some ways of dying that might mess you up, drowning, burning etc. But the actual death wouldn’t mean much to him.
True, to a degree. But consider that so much of our existence and identity as humans is wrapped up in our mortality. We don’t walk around thinking about our eventual death every second of the day, but we know it. Deep down we know we’re temporary. Messing with that would, I think, threaten the tether we have on what life and death even means in a way. That’s the deepest question here. More to the surface is the fact that having your head cut off, suffocating to death, burning alive; these are not experiences that an human has and then… Read more »
Actually, even this could be incorrect. They have admitted before to having no clue how EXACTLY his power works. Is he immortal? Will he live forever no matter what, or just until he dies of old age? Will he “age” at all? Is he infinite, or more “cat-like”, with a set number of respawns? In a way, thoughts like that could have him EVEN MORE fucked up than a normal person. We all fear dying to some degree. But Ethan has to live with “knowing” that he’ll just come right back…. until he doesn’t. Every time he plays hero he’s… Read more »
Thinking long-term here. What would happen to Ethan if he reached the age to die of old age? His “respawn point” never seems to be far along his biology chronology from his point of death. Might he end up in an infinite loop of dying of old age? I mean, wow. To constantly, and i mean CONSTANTLY, be DYING without the relief of death. I can’t imagine a worse fate.
As far as I can see, there’s two possibilities other than that one;
1: The power stops his aging,
2: Dying of old age is the only way for him to stay dead
There’s a third option: Each time he dies of old age, he respawns to the age he was right before the cancer / dementia / disease / whatever took hold. Meaning that he’ll age to about eighty or ninety, and spend the rest of eternity getting sick and frail and dying over and over.
Man, that’s dark.
There’s actually a 4th option that’s tied in with the dying of old age thing. It’s the old “life is a game” theme whereby he “completes” the game when he finally dies of old age or some other predetermined condition (number of lives, certain boss defeated, etc.). I mean, this IS a comic about gaming and the culture surrounding it. Doesn’t really get more meta than that.
Heh. Maybe he can choose to start a New Game +.
I think Ethan’s powers only work for unnatural causes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could die from his body getting old and failing. Diseases, viruses, etc. might also be able to kill him on a permanent basis as well.
Either way, that’s more on Tim to clarify if he wants to.
I think it was mentioned that he respawns at his last perfectly healthy state. To me, it would mean that if he gets a disease, then dies from it, he would respawn at this state prior to contracting the disease.
Reminds me of Capitol by Orson Scott Card. Most of the stories ended up in The Worthington Saga, but there was one at the beginning where the main character was killed repeatedly in increasingly horrible ways. First time the written word has ever made me legitimately nauseated.
I still have so many questions about his power though, which I guess are going to be answered at some oint. Is he going by, like, Skyrim rules where you just infinitely respawn or old school nintendo rules with a set number of lives? Is there some version of adding in more quarters for him like an arcade game? Can he die of old age or cancer? Is he eternally young or is he going to get so old he needs to be turned into a grasshopper? Would game over just take him back to being a baby? Am I… Read more »
Those are mostly questions that Ethan has not discovered answers to yet.
If he were the least bit psychic, and could have his opponent experience a few of his more… Choice… deaths, I’m pretty sure he could reduce even A-list villains to quivering piles of PTSD.
I think the more important question is how did he discover he had the ability to “not stay dead”? Most people live their entire life trying to avoid death. Was his first death a result of an accident? or after his sister died, did he attempt and succeed in committing suicide? Only to find that he was in his own personal hell, that he could never stay dead, that if an afterlife did exist, he would never be able to see the pearly gates of heaven, and he would never get to see his sister in any afterlife, as a… Read more »
They both discovered their powers at the same time, immediately following their accident: https://cad-comic.com/comic/analog-and-d-pad-04-12/
I’ve said it before, Ethan has had the power to return from the dead from the very beginning
https://cad-comic.com/comic/bad-call/
Alternatively, Ethan’s power to return from the dead goes all the way back to the origin of the comic as a whole… #fantheories
https://cad-comic.com/comic/bad-call/
I had completely forgot about this.
I feel we are headed to a really dark origin story about how he discovered his power.
Tim already showed the origin way back ago… Lucas did his arrow thing and decapitated Ethan, who then respawned. I don’t remember the date it occurred, but it was a few issues back.
Is there any reason this site routinely logs me out after a week or so? It doesn’t happen on any other site. Something related to adblocker or browser maybe?
Perhaps. Its something interesting to explore as a writing concept, however the depths that could theoretically take a story I doubt can be really explored to the darkest corners in a lighthearted comic like this. I am interested to see where it goes.
When Ultimate Wolverine was captured by weapon X, the soldiers would start torturing him for fun. He healed and would have his memory wiped. But the pain…
Ooo, new comments system! Cool!
One thing though. does he still age? cause if he does, by a overthinker’s logic, that may put him in a bit of a neverending death loop when he dies of old age, just bring him back to that point again and again repetively passing away. for all eternity. probably wont work like that but someone with this power set would probably worry about that!
Planetside 2 has something like this. “Revival sickness”. The constant repeat of death and rebirth has turned the entire population of the planet of Auraxis, locked in an eternal war, into straight-jacket flailing danger to themselves and others imaginary friend named Hortense batshit fucking lunatics.
In this context, I fear for Ethan’s mind more than ever before…